Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee

6 March 2018

 

Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

Final Decision-Maker

Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee

Lead Head of Service

Angela Woodhouse, Head of Policy, Communications, and Governance

Lead Officer and Report Author

Anna Collier, Policy and Information Manager and Ashley Sabo, Performance and Business Information Officer

Classification

Public

Wards affected

All

 

Executive Summary

Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee is asked to review the progress of Key Performance Indicators that relate to the delivery of the Strategic Plan 2015-2020. The Committee is also asked to consider the comments and actions against performance to ensure they are robust.

 

This report makes the following recommendations to Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee:

1.   That the summary of performance for Quarter 3 of 2017/18 for Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) be noted.

 

 

Timetable

Meeting

Date

Heritage, Culture & Leisure Committee

6 March 2018



Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

 

1.      INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

 

1.1     Having a comprehensive set of actions and performance indicators ensures that the Council delivers against the priorities and actions set in the Strategic Plan.

 

1.2     Following the refresh of the Strategic Plan for 2017/18 the Committees agreed 28 Key Performance Indicators in April 2017.

 

1.3     Performance indicators are judged in two ways. Firstly on whether performance has improved, sustained or declined, compared to the same period in the previous year. This is known as direction. Where there is no previous data, no assessment of direction can be made.

 

1.4     The second way is to look at whether an indicator has achieved the target set and is known as PI status. If an indicator has achieved or exceeded the annual target they are rated green. If the target has been missed but is within 10% of the target it will be rated amber, and if the target has been missed by more than 10% it will be rated red.

 

1.5     Some indicators will show an asterisk (*) after the figure. These are provisional values that are awaiting confirmation. Data for some of the indicators were not available at the time of reporting. In these cases a date has been provided for when the information is expected.

 

1.6     Contextual indicators are not targeted but are given a direction. Indicators that are not due for reporting or where there is delay in data collection are not rated against targets or given a direction.

 

 

2.        Quarter 3 Performance Summary

 

2.1     There are 28 key performance indicators (KPIs) which were developed with Heads of Service and unit managers, and agreed by the four Service Committees for 2017/18. 5 are reported to the Committee for this quarter. 

 

2.2     Overall, 80% (4) of targeted KPIs reported this quarter achieved their target for quarter 3. For 33% of indicators, performance improved compared to the same quarter last year (where previous data is available for comparison).

RAG Rating

Green

Amber

Red

N/A

Total

KPIs

4

0

1

0

5

Direction

Up

No Change

Down

N/A

Total

Last Year

1

0

2

2

5

Last Quarter

3

0

2

0

5

 

 

3.        Performance by Priority

 

Priority 1: Keeping Maidstone borough an attractive place for all, & Priority 2: Securing a successful economy for Maidstone Borough

 

3.1     The Hazlitt Theatre sold 69.5% of all available tickets during quarter 3, against a target of 50%. This represents the sale of 25,550 tickets, out of a possible 36,766. The third quarter of the year is the pantomime season which is always very popular. There has been increased competition with another pantomime opening within the town this year, but the percentage of seats sold has remained high.

 

3.2     The number of students benefitting from the museum’s educational service was 2,113 against a target of 2,085. This is up 28.7% from the previous quarter. October and November were fully booked for visits to the museum and outreach and several loans boxes were borrowed. Several schools who traditionally booked our main workshop and a separate craft activity have opted to only do the main workshop because of their own budget cuts. A large number of the workshops were for Egyptians, prompted by the new Ancient Lives gallery. December saw a swing from visits to the museum towards sessions delivered in school and we would anticipate this continuing as schools save on transport costs.

 

3.3     Footfall at the Museum and Visitor Information Centre was 11,548 against a target of 11,000. This quarter's visitor figures are roughly 1,500 higher than this time last year and can be linked to both the opening of the new Ancient Lives gallery and our Christmas events which saw us host Father Christmas for the first time. Ancient Lives has, so far, had consistently high feedback from visitors and has, in particular, been praised for the sensitive and respectful display of Ta-Kush, the mummified woman at the heart of the gallery.

 

3.4      The number of contacts to the Visitor Information Centre (VIC) was 533 during this period. This was a new KPI for 2017/18 with the new visitor information point in the museum opening on 20 November 2017 towards the end of quarter 3.  Although the figure this quarter is well below target, it does reflect similar usage this time last year and highlights the need to reflect the seasonal nature of the Visitor Information Centre's work in the targets for 2018/19. The new dedicated space allows more information to be displayed, staff to attend to tourism enquiries and to promote local events via our free noticeboards and we hope to see an improvement as a result. Changes will be made to this indicator’s targets and methodology for 2018/19 using the baseline from this year and reflecting the seasonality and mindful that the values for quarter 1 and quarter 2 in 2018/19 may be affected as a result of the new VIC point.

 

3.5     There were 175,142 users at the leisure centre during quarter 3. This has exceeded the target of 166,606 by 8,536 users. The Leisure Centre Management has been working hard to increase usage of the centre, especially in pool based areas. This new focus has resulted in increased centre visitor numbers in the third quarter of the year.

 

 

4.       RISK

4.1    This report is presented for information only, managers and heads of service can use performance data to identify service performance and this data can contribute to risk management.

 

5.       CONSULTATION RESULTS AND PREVIOUS COMMITTEE FEEDBACK

 

5.1     The Key Performance Indicator Update will be reported quarterly to the Service Committees: Communities Housing and Environment Committee, Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee, and Heritage Culture and Leisure Committee. Each Committee will receive a report on the relevant priority action areas. The report will also go to Policy & Resources Committee, reporting only on the priority areas of: A clean and safe environment, regenerating the Town Centre, and a home for everyone.

 

 

6.       NEXT STEPS: COMMUNICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE DECISION

 

6.1     The Council could choose not to monitor the Strategic Plan and/or make alternative performance management arrangements, such as frequency of reporting. This is not recommended as it could lead to action not being taken against performance during the year, and the Council failing to deliver its priorities.

 

 

7.       CROSS-CUTTING ISSUES AND IMPLICATIONS

 

Issue

Implications

Sign-off

Impact on Corporate Priorities

The key performance indicators and strategic actions are part of the Council’s overarching Strategic Plan 2015-20 and play an important role in the achievement of corporate objectives.

They also cover a wide range of services and priority areas, for example waste and recycling.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Risk Management

The production of robust performance reports ensures that the view of the Council’s approach to the management of risk and use of resources is not undermined and allows early action to be taken in order to mitigate the risk of not achieving targets and outcomes.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Financial

Performance indicators and targets are closely linked to the allocation of resources and determining good value for money. The financial implications of any proposed changes are also identified and taken into account in the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan and associated annual budget setting process. Performance issues are highlighted as part of the budget monitoring reporting process.

Senior Finance Officer (Client)

Staffing

Having a clear set of targets enables staff outcomes/objectives to be set and effective action plans to be put in place

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance

Legal

There is no statutory duty to report regularly on the Council’s performance. However, under Section 3 of the Local Government Act 1999 (as amended) a best value authority has a statutory duty to secure continuous improvement in the way in which its functions are exercised having regard to a combination of economy, efficiency and effectiveness. One of the purposes of the Key Performance Indicators is to facilitate the improvement of the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of Council Services. Regular reports on the Council’s performance assist in demonstrating best value and compliance with the statutory duty.

 Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

Privacy and Data Protection

We will hold data in line with the Data Quality Policy, which sets out the requirement for ensuring data quality.

There is a program for undertaking data quality audits of performance indicators.

 Keith Trowell, Interim Team Leader (Corporate Governance)

Equalities

The Performance Indicators reported on in this quarterly update measure the ongoing performance of the strategies in place. If there has been a change to the way in which a service delivers a strategy, i.e. a policy change, an Equalities Impact Assessment is undertaken to ensure that there is no detrimental impact on individuals with a protected characteristic.

Equalities & Corporate Policy Officer

Crime and Disorder

None Identified

Policy & Information Manager

Procurement

Performance Indicators and Strategic Milestones monitor any procurement needed to achieve the outcomes of the Strategic Plan.

Head of Policy, Communications & Governance, & Section 151 Officer

 

8.        REPORT APPENDICES

 

The following documents are to be published with this report and form part of the report:

·         Appendix 1: Key Performance Indicator Update Quarter 3 17/18

 

9.        BACKGROUND PAPERS

 

None